Daily Devotional with Oswald ChambersBased on the Book: 'My Utmost For His Highest' (The
Golden Book of Oswald Chambers,1935) by Oswald Chambers

What Do You Want?

"Do you seek great things for yourself?" -
Jeremiah 45:5

Are you seeking great things for yourself, instead of seeking to be a great
person? God wants you to be in a much closer relationship with Himself than
simply receiving His gifts— He wants you to get to know Him. Even some large
thing we want is only incidental; it comes and it goes. But God never gives us
anything incidental. There is nothing easier than getting into the right
relationship with God, unless it is not God you seek, but only what He can give
you.

If you have only come as far as asking God for things, you have never come to
the point of understanding the least bit of what surrender really means. You
have become a Christian based on your own terms. You protest, saying, “I asked
God for the Holy Spirit, but He didn’t give me the rest and the peace I
expected.” And instantly God puts His finger on the reason-you are not seeking
the Lord at all; you are seeking something for yourself. Jesus said, “Ask, and
it will be given to you . . .” ( Matthew 7:7 ). Ask God for what you want and do
not be concerned about asking for the wrong thing, because as you draw ever
closer to Him, you will cease asking for things altogether. “Your Father knows
the things you have need of before you ask Him” ( Matthew 6:8 ). Then why should
you ask? So that you may get to know Him.

Are you seeking great things for yourself? Have you said, “Oh, Lord, completely
fill me with your Holy Spirit”? If God does not, it is because you are not
totally surrendered to Him; there is something you still refuse to do. Are you
prepared to ask yourself what it is you want from God and why you want it? God
always ignores your present level of completeness in favor of your ultimate
future completeness. He is not concerned about making you blessed and happy
right now, but He’s continually working out His ultimate perfection for you— “.
. . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” ( John 17:22 ).